User blog:SPARTAN 119/Mai Kawasumi (Kanon) VS Nemuru Kushinada (Ookami Kakushi)
Mai Kawasumi, the girl whose "extracurricular activities" consist of battling mysterious demons in her school at night VS Nemuru Kushinada, the "ordinary girl" who leads a double life as a scythe-wielding enforcer of ancient laws WHO IS DEADLIEST!? Mai Kawasumi Mai Kawasumi is a major character in the visual novel and later anime Kanon. Mai was girl from an unspecified city in Japan, who possessed mysterious healing powers. As a child, Mai spent time with her mother, who was hospitalized with an unspecified disease, praying for her recovery and at one point crying on her hand. Mysteriously, Mai's mother recovered, and in so doing, Mai discovered the her tears in particular have mysterious healing powers. During her teenage years, Mai was feared by most of her classmates as mysterious accidents seemed to occur around her, specifically damage to school property. Because of this, Mai has a quiet, shy personality and has few friends, except for her best friend Sayuri Kurata and protagonist Yuichi Aizawa. In truth, Mai is involved in the damage to school property, namely, she spends her nights at the school fighting mysterious formless "demons" in the building, armed with a longsword, though it is not clear where she got a hold of the weapon. Mai always keeps the sword somewhere where she can easily access it, feeling weak without it. These "demon" attacks become more intense when Mai meets Yuichi Aizawa in the school building after hours, and observes her fighting the demons. During the course of the series, Mai is invited to school dance by Yuichi, which results in an attack by at least one "demon", which Mai is forced to fight, resulting in severe damage to the gymnasium. Mai only narrowly escapes expulsion for this, and later Sayuri Kurata is attacked by one of the "demons", with Mai finding her unconcious in a school bathroom. Around the same time, mysterious black marks start appearing on Mai's body, and Mai starts to feel pain after killing a "demon". Nemuru Kushinada Nemuru Kushinada was a girl born in the town of Jouga-machi in 1968. Nemuru was the daughter of the town chairman. The town of Jouga, on the surface a normal town in the mountains, notable for growing hassaku fruit, and for tales of an endemic subspecies of wolves were said to inhabit the forests surrounding the town, the basis for a local goddess said to take the form of a "white wolf". In truth, however, the "wolves" were actually a metaphor for the behavior of the local inhabitants, who are referred to as kamibito, and are said to "both human and not human". It is implied that they may be a different subspecies of humans. The main features of kamibito are an enhanced sense of smell, superhuman strength and agility, and an innate attraction to certain humans, known as "Temptations" who emit a pheromone undetectable to normal humans, but irresistible to the kamibito. When exposed to the pheromone, and particularly, if they come into contact with bodily fluids of an individual who emits said pheromones, (typically by kissing or sexual contact, as the kamibito will literally "fall in love" with the emitter) they become addicted and prone to insanity and violence. This was the world that Nemuru Kushinada was born into. As the sole daughter of the Kushinada clan, she was given the role of "Hunter", charged with assassinating "fallen wolves"- kamibito who made contact with the bodily fluids of a "Temptation" and were driven insane- in accordance with ancient religious laws of the town, which are secretly enforced to present day. Nemuru commits her murders at night, wearing a ritual outfit, most notably a wolf's mask, accompanied by other high-ranking kamibito, and kills the "fallen" with a large scythe. Nemuru is forced to accept this role, though she is severely psychologically effected by being forced to commit murder again and again. Weapons Longsword The term "longsword" refers to a longer European-style sword than the arming sword, having the same straight, double-edged blade and cruciform shape of the arming sword, but having a length of up to about one and a half meters, designed more for thrusting, but still capable of cutting. The weapon could be used in either one or two handed, using two hands for powerful slashing attacks, and one hand for faster thrusts and cuts. The sword was used from the mid 1300s to the mid 1500s. Scythe Nemuru Kushinada's primary weapon is a large scythe. The shaft of the scythe appears to be about six to seven feet long, with the blade being about three to four feet long, with Japanese text engraved on the blade. In spite of the large size of the weapon, Nemuru can make rapid slashes with the weapon thanks to her superhuman strength, and even wielding it while jumping to superhuman heights- up to about 30 feet in the air. In addition to the main blade, the scythe has a metal crescent on top, which appears to also be bladed. The crescent is mostly decorative, but it could be used to block a blade, or used to make a slashing attack. Special Abilities Superhuman Strength and Agility (Nemuru) Nemuru Kushinada possesses superhuman strength, given how easily she is able to wield the large scythe, and her ability to throw an adult male (namely Shuuichiro Sakaki) about 10-12 feet in unarmed combat, as well as easily push him to the ground. The main ability combat ability Nemuru displays, however, is superhuman agility, being able to jump up to about 20-30 feet in their. She is also capable of aiming her jumps with precision, being able to land on her feet on top of a steel girder at least fifteen feet in the air in a jump reminiscent of Altair or Ezio Auditore da Firenze. Nemuru is also shown to be able to run at superhuman speeds when chasing her prey as "The Hunter”. An overview of her feats include:  *Fought Isuzu Tsumuhana, another superhuman armed with a pair of knives. In this fight, but she and Isuzu made 20-30 foot lunges at each other. *Jumped about 20-30 feet into the air and landed precisely on a steel girder *Threw an adult human male about 12 feet and tackled him to the ground. *Evaded dozens of wooden beams and other construction debris falling around her. Also escaped debris falling on her from a crane. Superhuman Strength and Agility, Weak Regeneration (Mai) Mai Kawasumi possesses “low-grade” superhuman strength and agility similar to Nemuru’s, being able to easily jump over six feet in the air vertical distance and up to 20 feet horizontal distance. When jumping from a higher plane, such as building, she can safely land from a jump from up to at least 30 feet. Mai’s superhuman agility even allowed her to jump out of a second or third story window and launch a jumping front-flip slash at a 30-foot tall demon, which she killed in single strike. Mai is also demonstrates the ability to cut through a road sign and destroy a storage tank, a bicycle, and a small cinder-block wall with a single strike with her sword. Mai's also possesses healing powers that allow her limited regenerative abilities, however they do not work on every injury Mai sustains, it has saved her life when she attempted suicide by falling on her own sword. However, she will still be disabled for some time by the wound, and would likely not save her from things like decapitation or destruction of the brain. Essentially, Wolverine or Deadpool she is not. In summary: *Managed to jump roughly 6 feet vertical distance and 20 feet horizontal distance *Jumped out of a 2nd or 30-story window and killed a demon roughly as tall as the building with a jumping front-flip slash and landed without injury. *Cut through a road sign and smashed a cinder block wall, a storage tank, and bicycle with her sword. *Her regeneration saved her from death after she attempted suicide by running her sword through her chest, though she spent an extended time in hospital =X-Factors= {| border="1" class="wikitable" !Mai Kawasumi !X-Factor !Nemuru Kushinada |- |50 |Combat Experience |60 |- |85 |Agility |95 |- |30 |Training |45 |- |90 |Physical Strength |85 |- |70 |Mental Health |55 |- |25  |Killer Instinct  |40 |- |} 119’s Edges Both Mai and Nemuru have engaged in melee combat, however, while Mai has only fought againsts the “demons” inhabiting her school, which resemble amorphous, translucent blobs between seven and about 30 feet tall, Nemuru has fought against multiple insane “fallen” kamibito, who have superhuman strength and agility comparable to her own. While most of the “fallen” she killed were unarmed, Nemuru has also fought against fellow superhuman Isuzu Tsumuhana, who attacked her with dual-wielded knives, while Mai has never fought a human or any enemy with human intelligence. In terms of agility, both possess superhuman agility, but Nemuru shows the ability to jump higher and further than Mai, and to land on small surfaces with precision, giving her the advantage. In terms of training, Mai has practiced with a bokken, but is not know to have formal swordsmanship training. While Nemuru also lacks extensive combat training, she is presumably at least trained in the use of her scythe to serve in her role of “the hunter”. In terms of brute strength, Mai shows a greater capacity for destruction, destroying many objects in her school during her nighttime fights with demons and destroying a road sign, a cinder block wall, a bicycle, and a small storage tank with a single swing of her sword. Nemuru never quite shows that level of cutting strength, though she can still easily kill a human with a single strike of her scythe and physically overpower an adult male, and even throw him about 12 feet. In terms of mental health, Mai is asocial and a bit odd, but not as heavily effected Nemuru, who suffers from guilt over the people she has killed in her role as the “hunter”- something that could cause her to hesitate in a fight. In terms of killer instinct, as stated above, Mai has only killed demons, though she has swung her sword at a human (but missed) when surprised, and would probably not hesitate to use the blade to defend herself. As the “hunter”, Nemuru is forced to kill, but suffers from guilt over her actions. =Notes= The fight will take place in an urban area at night. There will be no other people present. =Battle= Nemuru Kushinada walked down a darkened street in search of the "fallen" that she was to eliminate that night, towards a closed-down school at the end of the road. Suddenly, the third floor front window shattered as a girl armed with a longsword lunged out, before making a rapid jumping slash. Mai's eyes, she had just cleaved through one of the amorphous demons, but to Nemuru, who could not seem the "demons" born of Mai's subconcious reality warping powers, she seemed to have lunged at nothing. The girl did not bear the scent of a kamibito, and yet, with this superhuman display of strength, she had to be the "fallen". However reluctantly, Nemuru steeled herself to once again carry out the grim duty of the "Hunter", before she bent her knees and jumped across the road in a single bound, before making a second jump as soon as she landed, readying her scythe to strike as she did so. Mai Kawasumi heard the sound of something flying through the air just in time, but instead of another "demon", she instead faced a girl in a wolf's mask and a white wig lunging at her with a massive scythe. Mai readied her sword just in time, parrying the blow and jumping backwards, onto a parked car. "Fallen wolf, your cleansing had come", Nemuru said, as she lunged at Mai again. This time, Mai evaded the blow just in time, the blade of the scythe digging a few centimeters into a roof of the car as it landed. "I don't want to hurt you", Mai replied in her usual soft-spoken voice, "But if you leave me no choice, I will not hold back." As Nemuru launched another attack, Mai replied with a strike from her longsword, which ground against Nemuru's scythe. A second strike knocked Nemuru off balance, causing her to fall backwards of the car. Mai made a downward thrust attack at Nemuru, who rolled out of the way. Mai's sword instead struck the pavement hard enough to crack it. This distracted Nemuru just enough to retrieve her scythe, and jump backwards about 10 meters in the air. As soon as she landed with enough force to damage the roof of the car she landed on, Nemuru jumped again, making a jumping strike with her scythe. The blade met Mai's with a flash of steel and a shower of sparks. Nemuru retaliated with a sideways strike, which Mai evaded and countered with a forward thrust. Nemuru ducked to the side and then made a diagonal slash with her scythe. Mai evaded this attack as well, and responded with a cut with her sword. The blade cut through the air in a vertical arc, before connecting with the shaft of her scythe. The blade of Mai's longsword cleaved about 2/3 of the way through the shaft, before the rest of it snapped off and splintered. As Nemuru was momentarily stunned by the loss of her weapon, Mai pressed her advantage. Not wanting to kill the girl, Mai struck her with the pommel of her sword. The strike connected with the bottom of Nemuru's jaw. The blow immediately knocked her unconscious, causing her to collapse onto the concrete. After checking a moment to make sure her adversary was down, Mai turned away and sheathed her sword. WINNER: Mai Kawasumi Expert's Opinion The experts believed that Mai would score a narrow victory thanks to her slightly superior strength as demonstrated by her feats of destruction, as well as her more effective weapon. Her longsword was an actual weapon designed for combat, while Nemuru's scythe is an adapted farm implement. To see the original battle, weapons, and votes, click here. Category:Blog posts